By Present tenses, Subjunctives

Many thanks for the response, but I'm not sure how it can be correct - and this is almost entirely my fault for not setting out an example well enough. In the coffin quotation, I believe that it can't simply be a subjunctive mood form because, by inserting 'we thought' into it,...

The subjunctive mood forms: should selland sellare the formal ones. Sells is informal.

I'm not familiar with the site; but the writer may well be of BrE origin. (In BrE, you could use "sells", "should sell", or the subjunctive "sell". The last option has become more popular in the last two decades, in BrE, in contexts where "should sell"...

I see nothing wrong with any sentence. No plural in the first sentence for the very reason that parental example is regarded as a theme. In sentence No. 2 the speaker hopes now and therefore uses the present tense. The subjunctive isn't always used after as if/as though even though it is...

It's not subjunctive. It's the modal use of need. Modal need can occur in non-assertive contexts. Modals never take the s in the first person singular of the present tense the way non-modal verbs do. In that way they resemble subjunctive forms, which are also missing the s. The...

Hi Anonymous,the reason is simple. After verbs like "thought", or "knew", etc., using the past tense is idiomatic. That's why you should say:I thought they were going to play! (not ...they are going...)Who would have thought he was a communist! (not ...he is a...

You be here at 9 tomorrow to work on what is left.This is a form of the imperative mood-- a command.Yes, needed is in the past, and I believe that is how I edited your sentence in my previous post:2. He warned that his friend needed to get away from the flammable substance.He warned that the toy...

Yoong Liat wrote: The teacher said, "The world is round." In reported speech, it would be The teacher said that the world is round. One of my English usage books says it can be reported as The teacher said that the world was round. ( was consistent with said in tense) What do you think? ...

1. It represents future time, yes. It's an example of the use of the present tense to express future time. 2. I would not call it subjunctive, no. But it is involved in hypothetical thinking: If the queen were to live that long, she would be 96. CJ

This is a clear subjunctive mood for me. Psychologists got the idea in the past and the if - part is a timeless belief in the present tense. were couldn´t be changed to was without a change in meaning.